Looking ahead: Demers at forward, Clifford in for LA, bad odds if Sharks lose and that Quick matter

Maybe it was misdirection, but Coach Todd McLellan had Jason Demers practicing at both forward and defense Monday, and when it was brought up afterward, he didn’t deny the possibility that’s how things may play out in Game 4 on Tuesday night when the Sharks resume their series with the Los Angeles Kings.

“We were preparing in case we would like to use that option. If we dress seven, we may move somebody up to play some shifts,” said McLellan, who face the challenge of replacing the once-again injured Marty Havlat. “It’s an option as he (Demers) gets healthier, and times go on.”

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For his part, Demers said he’s good to go after recovering from that April 18 ankle injury and happy to play in either position.

“Yeah, just throw me at forward,” he said. “I’ll go in wherever they want me to right now.”

Logan Couture did not skate, but McLellan said it was a maintenance day after suffering that injury that kept him out of most of the second period of Game 3 before returning to score the overtime goal.

“He’ll be playing,” McLellan said of Couture.

The one lineup change that filtered up from Los Angeles, where the Kings practiced Sunday and Monday, was the return of Kyle Clifford, who missed the first three games of this series with an upper body injury. Clifford has been an effective pest against the Sharks, and is slated for a fourth-line role alongside Brad Richardson and Colin Fraser.

Along those same lines, Adam Burish did practice with his teammates Monday and McLellan was starting to back away from the original forecast that an injury in the final Vancouver game would keep Burish out of the second round entirely.

“He had a lot of energy, and actually moved the puck fairly well,” McLellan said. “Maybe he’s closer than we originally thought. It’s a good sign for us.”

****The print edition story I’m working will highlight what McLellan had to say about the urgency the Sharks need to bring to Game 4, how it’s pretty much mandatory to even things up at 2-2.

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I won’t get into all that here, but I will throw out the stat that backs up his point:

Of the 262 NHL teams that have fallen behind 3-1 in a series, only 9.2 percent have come back to win. Not good odds if you’re the Sharks.

****So far, no sign of any supplemental action by the NHL as far as whatever tirade Jonathan Quick threw at the end of Game 3 to earn a game misconduct at that point for abusing the officials.

Quick indicated his displeasure as well after San Jose’s first goal, skating out of his crease to tap an official on the shin with the goalie’s stick to get his attention. Presumably that was about the screen that Joe Thornton set up in front of him.

After the game, Quick confronted two officials separately along the side boards before leaving the ice.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

Why is it that in Detroit, if there is an octopus or squid repeatedly thrown on the ice, everybody waits patiently while it’s removed (and the top players get bonus rest) but if it were any other object the home crowd would be threatened with a minor penalty over the loud speakers.

To me it’s repeated delay of games and it should be penalized. I just don’t get how they can get away with it over and over.

ice

Niemi certainly seems to have more poise now than Quick. I love it! I want all sharks players chirping at Quick every chance they get.

2Teal4You

Dick. Agreed, but last night I felt like the rest was benefiting Chicago who burned their time out early. I would hope if you have the blessing of the NHL to do that so often, your fans would do it only when it benefits you. Maybe there was a hawks fan with a bag of octopi secretly buying his team time. Didn’t work but if its 3-2, that’s a big deal.

BuddyElf

Skylark: I understand the octopi before the initial puck drops, and after a goal… it’s tradition… at any other time, it should be a penalty. The fans in Boston were continuing to throw towels on the ice, even after the loud speaker told them to stop (Boston strong). It’s going to take another Panthers/rats incident to get the league to crack down.

2Teal4You

How do we chant Quick tonight if the team gets into his head?
Johhhhhnnn-aaathaaannn!!

2Teal4You

I think the plastic rat thing was awesome. I wish that was allowed.

LTNC

why don’t we all just watch the game and not worry about how we chant?

2Teal4You

Directly as a result of the rat trick craze, the NHL amended its rules prior to the 1996–97 season to prevent a recurrence of this phenomenon and delays to the game that followed. It declared that if fans threw debris onto the ice, the referee can have the public address announcer warn the fans to stop. After a warning, the referee can then issue a delay of game penalty to the home team.[8] The league, however, created a special exemption for articles “thrown onto the ice following a special occasion”, specifically excluding the traditional tossing of hats onto the ice following a hat trick goal from being subject to the penalty.[9]

Ltnc – I’m not a fan of chanting the goalie unless he’s obviously rattled. Such as giving up 2 or more quick goals. If they get rattled, I think it adds to the crowds energy to do it. I haven’t missed a playoff game in years, and an active crowd vs a lethargic crowd plays into it. So get loud no matter what you cheer.

Cheers!

Tezooo

Breaking News!!
NFL owners today selected the San Francisco 49ers’ new Santa Clara stadium to host the 50th Super Bowl in 2016, sending the nation’s biggest sporting event back to the Bay Area for the first time since 1985. Details at MercuryNews.com.
Yeahhhhhhh

N05TRADUMBA55

Demers needs to work on keeping cool and not taking penalties + pinching at the inapropriate moment. If he’s playing forward, well then, let ‘im loose!

I know I’m not supposed to belabor the point but damn I want to see forwards on either side of the net for the pointman to shoot/pass to. Too much traffic, too many shots blocked. At least this gives us an option and maybe spreads the D out for a blast from the point. Just haven’t seen this set-up utilized at all this series.
Do like Thorton in fron of the goalie.

Cap-O-113

The $100 k fine was a mandatory $25k for not waiting the required 48 hrs to issue a statement as stated in some by laws related to the new CBA. The extra $75 k was for the content of Wilson’s statement.

Quick seems to take each and every opportunity to bark at the linesmen or refs after any blown whistle near his net. The exact opposite of Niemi.

If you notice even after Niemi was “blown up” at the end of regualtion by the severe goalie interfence that resulted in the 5 on 3. “Nemo” just got up and said NOTHING.

This in the long run helps the refs simply make the correct call without filtering it through all the crap some goalies and Quick throw at them.

Good job NEMO!

Trees Forever

If you’re going to kick Torres for an entire series for a clean hit, Butthead had better suspend Quick for a game.

N05TRADUMBA55

I wish Burns and Marleau could split up their intensity with each other.